Bullet-catcher.



A. MOUNT.

BULLET GATGHER. APPLIOATIOK FILED IEB.21, 1911.

1,010,514.; PatentedDc.5, 191l.

j JV I12 Ji Wiesses I A? lnvor y I 1 I Attorneys or mouth of the shell is provided AUSTIN MOUNT, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

BULLET-GATCHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 1911.

Application filed February 21, 1911. Serial No. 609,958.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUSTIN MOUNT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Erie, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Bullet-Catcher, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to targets, and more especially to the supporting devices used in connection therewith and which contain a receptacle for catching the spent bullets.

The object of the invention is to produce a bullet catcher which has a chamber in rearof the target that is so shaped and made of such material that it will catch and retain the bullet whether the latter remains intact or is shattered by its impact. This object is carried out by the construction hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as shown in the drawings wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective view of this bullet catcher with the target indicated in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a central vertical sectional view thereof.

In the drawings, the numeral 5 designates the rather thick upright back of a shell which by preference is made entirely of one piece of heavy cast iron or the like, 8 is its bottom which may be fiat, 6 are its sides which also may be flat, and 7 is its top which by preference is curved over from one side to the otherthe whole constituting a cupshaped shell or receptacle of a size somewhat larger than the ordinary target designated in dotted lines as at T. This shell may be supported in any suitable way, but by preference the back is formed at its upper end with an integral eye 9 whereby the entire device may be supported as when the eye is passed over a nail driven into a wall or post or other upright. The open front end with suitable threaded sockets 10 for the reception of screws 11 by which the front of the shell is attached thereto. erence made entirely of one piece of metal, although it should be separate from the shell. It comprises a front plate 12 preferably made fiat and pierced with holes at proper points for the screws 11 as shown, and a funnel-shaped mouth constructed by preference in the shape of a truncated cone whose larger or inlet end 13 stands forward, whose smaller end 14 and whose wall 15 is as thick as need be;

This front is also by prefstands to the rear,

and at a point about midway between its front end 13 and its rear end 14 is connected with or by preference merges integrally into the front plate 12 as shown 1n Fig. 2. Any suitable means may be provided for supporting the target T, and in the present instance I have shown a spur S inserted in the front edge of the wall 15 at its top, so that the target T may be impaled thereon as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The operation of this device is as follows: The catcher being supported in an upright position in any suitable way, and the target hung upon the spur as will be understood, the marksman takes his position at a remote point and shoots at the target as usual. It is to be supposed that his aim is sufficiently accurate to cause him to hit the target somewhere, but if not the entire bullet catcher is made sufficiently large or is placed in front of some soft support into which a recklessly fired bullet will enter and be lost. However, under all ordinary conditions and with a marksman of average accuracy, when the bullet strikes the target T it will pierce the same and strike within the wall 15 which converges toward the rear end 14 of the front, and passing out the rear end thereof the bullet will strike the rear or back plate 5 which is purposely made sufliciently thick and strong to prevent the impact of the bullet from doing damage thereto. Thereon the bullet may be shattered into pieces, but whether it is or not the bullet in whole or in parts will fall to and rest upon the bottom 8, and in rebounding will be caught around the smaller rear .end of the funnel-shaped mouth. Hence it will be seen that accidents which so frequently occur to attendants who stand near a target by reason of the reflection or deflection of bullets or pieces thereof, are avoided. From time to time the bullets and pieces thereof will be removed, although their presence within the device will serve merely as a cushion to prevent subsequent bullets and pieces from bounding off its bottom.

What is claimed is:

The herein described bullet catcher, the same comprising a shell having a thick upright back of metal, abottom and sides and top projecting forwardly therefrom and leaving the shell open at its front end, and means for supporting the same; and a funnelshaped mouth member comprising a like an embankment front plate closing the mouth of said shell, as my own, I have hereto aifixed my signaand a frusto-conical Wall extending through ture in the presence of two Witnesses. said plate with its larger end forward and its smaller end projecting into the shell, and AUSTIN MOUNT. means at the top' of said Wall for supporting Witnesses: a target over the inlet end of said mouth. EILEEN WRIGHT,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing ALICE R. MURPHY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

